Mobiles don't cause cancer after all (probably)

I feel as hesitant making the grand pronouncement that mobiles are categorically safe as I do saying they're definitely unsafe. The fact is that the studies and evidence on both sides have been a bit patchy at best. But today the results of the first research into the effects of handset radiation on different parts of the brain have been released and the news is promising.

A Japanese study from the Tokyo Women's Medical University found no increased risk of the three main types of brain cancer among regular mobile users. Now, bearing in mind the usual proviso (this time provided by Dr Lesley Walker of Cancer Research UK) that we don't know enough about long-term effects, that's good news, right?

The study compared 322 brain cancer patients with 683 healthy mobile users. Each person was rated according to the length of time they used a phone daily and how many years they had been using a phone. The phones were ranked according to radiation strength, and the way in which each phone was likely to effect different areas of the brain was analysed.

Three of the most common types of brain tumour are glioma, meningioma and pituitary adenoma and all the patients studied was suffering from one of these types.

The conclusion from Professor Naohito Yamaguchi?

"Using our newly developed and more accurate techniques, we found no association between mobile phone use and cancer, providing more evidence to suggest they don't cause brain cancer."

Seems like the evidence that we're pretty safe is stacking up; it's rare that we get the opposite of a technology health scare, so let's celebrate that.

Like that? Read this: In the name of charidee: Top 10 Breast Cancer donation gadgets

[Image Source: BBC News]